Ghosts of the Past
by CrowWingedWolf
Summary: When two Guardians unexpectedly come face to face with Omnigul during a simple mission on Earth, her strange song causes the impossible, and sets off a chain reaction of events. The more the Guardians try to fix themselves, the deeper they sink into things outside their control. Co-written by CrowWingedWolf and CloseDaLight. The Guardians don't strictly follow one class.
1. Chapter 1

_Authors Note: CrowWingedWolf- Hi! Thanks for taking the time to give this a read! This is a collaboration between myself and a close friend, CloseDaLight. The both of us started throwing around the idea of an RP, which morphed into this. You may note, the writing style fluctuates a bit. We take turns writing part of the story, so the whole thing is pretty much a 50-50 split. We hope you enjoy this epic tale of two Guardians and their (sometimes) helpful Ghosts._

The Mothyards were once the greatest airfield that the Cosmodrome had ever seen. Golden Age aircraft would shuttle in military, civilian, and other visitors to what was the largest orbital launch platforms the Earth had ever seen. That was then, now the area was nothing but ruin and misery. The aircraft lay broken and dismantled in the dirt, doing nothing more than collapse and house the enemy that were responsible for their demise. Every day, Guardians would clear out the Mothyards, but the Fallen were persistent. Today was no different. When the sun rose there were over thirty Fallen patrolling the wasteland. Now there was only silence. Silence broken only by the occasional scraping sound. The sound of a knife carving a symbol into the engine of an ancient craft. Sitting in the engine was a Guardian, a Titan to be exact. Laying down and using his weathered knife to carve the exact symbol that was tattooed on his hand into the metal. It was something that he did on every mission. He would find something to carve the curves and edges of the symbol he did not remember the meaning of. With a soft hiss his Ghost appeared and broke his concentration and the silence.

"I know you're bored, but it will only be a bit longer till the target arrives. The chatter on the Fallen comms indicate that he will break orbit any minute." The soft robotic voice of his Ghost was always a reassuring and welcome break to the silence that began every mission.

"I'm not like her. Just sitting around not doing anything just makes me anxious. I need to be out there doing something." The frustrated Titan put his knife back into his chest sheath. His Ghost floated outside and looked out into the distance to monitor any new incoming signals or heat signatures. "Soon." was all that she said back to her Guardian.

The ridge overlooking the Mothyards was jagged and well hidden from view. There couldn't be a better position to provide cover for a Fireteam. If you were to look at the ridge from a satellite you wouldn't really think it was anything special. Just some grass and a long way to certain death. It wasn't until she stretched her tense muscles and looked away from her scope that the ridge became interesting. That's when the stealth of her rifle wore off and revealed a Hunter waiting for what was to come. She was completely isolated, with clear lines of sight for miles. That's the way she liked it. She prided herself in her stealth and her marksmanship. It was the reason that she chose the path of the Hunter. Hunt in the shadow, never let them see you coming. That was the motto her mentor Cayde had taught her. "Ghost, is there any new information on when the target will be arriving?" Though she didn't see her Ghost, she knew he was there cloaked along with her. Revealing himself, "Not at the moment. The target is due to arrive any minute now. Which is good for us because your partner is one echo of silence away from punching that ship into oblivion. Titans are such brutes." the Ghost scoffed. Giving a slight chuckle, the Hunter opened comms with her partner. "How are you holding up down there?"

"You know damn well how I am. You've been watching me for almost an hour. I can FEEL you watching me. It's unsettling."

"Just because I can put one of these rounds through your heart from over a mile away doesn't mean that I know how you're feeling. I know you're bored, it will be all over soon. As soon as we kill Draxis we can go home and collect the bounty." She smiled and looked back through her scope, activating her weapons special ability. A cloak of stealth enveloped her again.

Rolling his eyes, the Titan stood up and jumped down from the engine. Weapon in hand, he walked toward a nearby cave. He checked the special cache of weapons he had left there in case he had to fall back to a defensive position. He was an impatient man, but he wasn't a fool. He had studied under the Titan Vanguard, Zavala. The brilliant tactician would always poke holes in all his plans to the point of frustration. That frustration lead to him being alive, even after many others had been drained of their light.

"James, you're going to want to come outside. I believe our guests have arrived."

The cave began to rumble as he exited the cave and saw the Fallen Skiff pass over his head. Today would be the day that the bounty on Draxis would be cashed in and the debt to the Queen of the Reef would be repaid. Ejecting the magazine from his weapon, the Titan triple checked that it was full and ready to be used. The Skiff hovered over the landing zone and prepared to drop it's passengers. "If you want to do the honor of taking the first shot we can get this started." Came his partner's voice in his helmet. With a smirk on his face he took a knee and aimed down his sights. Having done this so many times since the day he was brought back, he didn't even hesitate to breath. He pulled the trigger of his auto rifle and sent his payload down range.

As they landed in a tight formation, the Fallen looked at their captain and awaited his instructions. With a growl he told them to fan out and being the extraction of the minerals they needed to keep their ships running. Usually the soldiers would immediately begin their tasks, but they all stood still as one of the Vandals suddenly went down in a pained scream. Turning their heads, they saw their sworn enemies and coveter of their precious Traveler jumping down towards them. Draxis screamed to attack as two more Dregs went down. Vandals aimed their rifles to return fire when one fell to it's knees. It's head was no longer there, only the spray of blood and the twitch of a life being extinguished. Three more Fallen fell as sniper rounds found their marks.

On the hill, Sam hummed to herself as she pulled her trigger. It was a song she longed to remember but knew that she never would. Her bullets were hitting precisely where she was aiming for. "Guardian, I'm picking up a strange signal on my sensor. Something isn't right." the Ghost broke stealth and moved forward, scanning the battle ground for something it did not understand. The Titan charged at Draxis, who opened all four of his arms and grunted in anger. Lowering his weapon he charged at the Captain, and with a jump, James used the momentum to lay a massive shoulder charge into the chest of his opponent. The Fallen Captain stumbled back in shock and gave the Titan an opening to unleash two shotgun shells into the Captain, draining him of his overshield. Swiping back, the Captain missed as the Titan rolled out of the way and shot him a third time in the back. Then came the last three sounds that he ever heard. Three soft pops that would end his life of murdering Guardians. Three bullets hit his chest in a tight grouping, dropping him to the ground. Draxis was no more.

With a sigh of relief, the Titan raised a thumb up toward the ridge that he knew his partner was on. "You got him, he's done for." Was all the confirmation that she needed. She stood up and raised her thumb back at him, even if he couldn't see it. Her rifle, almost as tall as she was, smoked from its barrel as she checked it and then safetied it. "Guardian, I'm picking up Hive signatures all over this valley. I don't get it. I don't see any of them!" Kneeling and looking back through her scope she saw her Titan friend running towards his cave sliding into it for safety. That's when she heard it. The loud shrill death song that she heard on the moon. "Omnigoul!" she gasped as she searched the field for the Wizard.

"What the hell are the Hive doing here? That shriek, where have I heard it before?" The Titan quickly pulled out his Heavy Machine gun and walked toward the entrance in a frenzy of confusion. His Ghost floated in his way. "Stop. That's Omnigoul. You can't go out there and fight her, she too powerful for just you."

"There has to be something I can do. She's here for something that can wake Crota. I have to stop her." He put his hand to his helmet to contact Sam and inform her of the change in plan.

"Sam we have a problem, we have hive all over this place and worse, Omnigoul is their leader. I can take the grunts but I'm going to need help taking her out."

"Yeah I know, I'm on my way to you now on my Sparrow. I'll be there in one minute. I have my Super ready to go. Let's end her."

It began with a thunderous roar. If the Mothyards were beyond silent before, they were deafeningly loud now. The slow advance of a Titan with his Heavy Machine gun cut through the fodder. All around him was death and agony. Thralls that weren't mowed down clawed at his armor with razor sharp swipes. His armor, though battle tested, began to show the signs of their attacks. As his weapon became dry James dropped it and pulled out his blade. With his left hand he would land punches that disintegrated his enemies, with his right hand his blade found their necks and soft areas, killing them instantly. He was surrounded but he would not give up. Then again he didn't have to. A white bolt of lighting landed besides him, turning everyone around him to ash. A Hunter Arc grenade. His backup had arrived. Even off of her rifle, the Hunters aim was amazing. Like a boxer, she bob and weaved through the masses making sure that each movement ended with a bullet leaving her weapon and entering the skull of an enemy. If an enemy got too close, then they had the misfortune of meeting her blade. A blade that when used would grant her brief invisibility. The next enemy, surprised at her sudden disappearance, searched around, giving her the chance to shoot through it's head and into the head of another behind it. A cheeky double kill that didn't even phase her.

Together they walked side by side and laid waste to the grunts that the Wizard had brought with her. Glaring and moving back knowing that this would not end well for her, she began to fly towards the nearby structure. She sang her death song, an enchantment that she would soon use on the two unexpected Guardians. "She's getting away!" the two Ghosts informed the two Guardians. The Hunter ejected her magazine and refreshed it with a new one. The Titan instantly pulled out his shotgun. A shotgun that hungered to be fed with death. "Come on I'll lead." the Titan ran ahead. This annoyed the Hunter.

"He never plans anything, he's always so gung ho." Sam thought to herself, running after him they entered the structure. Inside stood the Wizard, both hands together as if she was praying. Flanking to the left of the Wizard, the Hunter took a position that she felt would grant her better line of sight. The Titan walked slowly towards her, shotgun pointed at her, and began to unload. The building echoed with two sounds. The blast of a shotgun and the pecking sound of a scout rifle as the Titan and Hunter converged on the beast. The Wizard screamed in agony as it quickly tried to finish its song. The song became louder and louder the closer the two came to the Wizard. Then came the flash. As if a bolt of lightning had hit the center of the room, the two Guardians unleashed their final attacks. The Hunter pulled out her knife, now charged with the electricity that gave the first humans fire, and the Titan pulling a hammer from the ether that shone and burned like the sun itself. Together they jumped at her and laid their attacks on her.

As it were, the two attacks should have sent her to oblivion. However, killing a Wizard as powerful as the right hand of Crota would not be so easy. The moment their attacks hit her was the same moment that her song ended. With that, the energies of their attacks sent each of them flying to opposite sides of the room, each hitting the wall with back breaking force that instantly knocked them out. The end of the song also sent the Wizard fading back to the moon with a laugh. Though she was defeated, she had been able to try her new song. A song, if successful, would help bring down the Guardians.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: CrowWingedWolf- Hey there! Last we saw our Guardians, they had both attacked Omnigul with their supers at the same time, and been blasted into the walls! Omnigul returned to the moon, while James and Sam were left to their fate._

She wasn't really the first to wake up. Not if you counted the Ghost currently circling her throbbing head and calling her name. She sat up so her knees were pulled up to her chest, resting her head on them and trying to make the spinning, nauseous feeling go away. Something next to her right eye sparked. Good thing she was going to replace her helmet when she got back to the Tower, it seemed this one was busted.

Tower. Right. She had to go back to the Tower. But first, she needed to find her Titan. She pushed herself up, her Ghost saying something about being careful she didn't really listen to, and stumbled over to a broken pillar. Despite her decent amount of armor, it seemed nothing could prepare her for that unplanned flight. Or the abrupt stop thanks to that wall. "Ghost, where is James?"

"Where is who?" The metallic ball of light asked, floating around to her face. "Sam, I really think you should-"

"Where is my Titan, Little Light?" She growled, the silvery iris on her Ghost narrowing in a semblance of irritation.

"I'll scan for him." It turned, sending a blue survey blast out, then turning back. "Other side of the room, buried under some rubble."

"Lovely." She breathed, straightening up and picking her way across the room. She had grabbed her blade from its sheathe more as a comfort to herself than protection. The room was rather quiet now that Omnigul had left. Once she reached the pile of rocks, she sheathed the blade again and began digging the stones off of the closest arm, then head, and finally back she could reach. Some of the larger rocks were a bit too much for her in her state. But he could get them if he was awake. "Come on, wake up." She said, gently patting him on the back of the helmet and neck. She looked up as his Ghost appeared.

"He has a bad concussion, but should wake up shortly." It told her.

"Ah. Any other injuries?"

"Negative."

She nodded, then rounded on her own Ghost. "And what is my current condition?"

"As I stated before, you have a minor concussion and a broken rib."

"First I heard of it." She muttered as James made a pained grunt. "Are you awake?"

"Yes."

"Awesome. Let's get the rest of the rubble off of you, I want to get out of here." She said, pushing more rocks off of him. Once he was free, she lead them to a clear part of the floor where they could evacuate to their ships and fly back to the Tower, and safety.

It took everything in her not to crash as her sight still wavered occasionally, but the duo managed to arrive safely, and touch down on solid ground. She tugged her helmet off quickly, happy to have that sparking wire away from her face. Once she saw the crumpled right side, she knew why it was sparking.

The bright sunlight reflecting off of the assorted windows and smooth walls she usually found pretty, instantly made her head hurt again. She squeezed her eyes nearly shut, but even that gave her no reprieve from the piercing white.

"You can uh… turn in the mission. I'm gonna sit down." She mumbled to James, trying to pat him on the shoulder but missing and swiping at the air in front of him.

"No, you can come with. Cayde-6 might want you." He chuckled, catching her flailing arm and leading her down the stairs. She tried to voice her displeasure, but as soon as they hit the shadows at the bottom of the stairs, her headache started dissolving and she could see straight again.

"Maybe I will." She sighed, relenting to the strong hand on her bicep guiding her towards the large room with their respective Vanguards around it.

The two Guardians held each other up to show face to the Vanguards, three of the most powerful Guardians, and mentors to future Guardians. "How did it go Guardians?" asked Ikora. The wise Warlock bowed slightly to Sam and James as they leaned on the table for support. "You guys look like hell. I didn't know that a Fallen Captain could do that to a Guardian." Cayde-6 chuckled to himself in the joking manner that he was known for.

"Sam and I did what needed to be done. Draxis is officially dead. Inform the Queen." Placing his hand on his Hunters hand he smiled and basked at the praise received by their mentors. The congratulations were interrupted by the Hunters Ghost as it came to the center of the table and showed the Vanguards an image that shook them to their very core. The picture was of Omnigul and her praying hands.

"This can't be, why would she leave the safety of the moon?" Ikora exclaimed breaking the silence. Zevala looked at Cayde and ordered him to summon Eris Morn.

James saw his FireTeam member shaking and interrupted the meeting. "With all due respects Sirs, I need to take my partner to rest. I myself took a beating and we need to rest." The three Vanguards nodded and dismissed them. They would be summoned again when more was learned from Eris. James and Sam turned and began to walk to their quarters. Making sure to not move too quickly, James made sure Sam was not too disoriented.

Guardians can take a beating, he thought to himself, they would be fine by morning. Leaving her in her bed, he left the room and stood against the wall in the hallway. "Guardian, my sensor says you will pass out soon. You must get to your quarters." his Ghost whispered, concerned for the first time in since he started his Guardian training.

"Yeah, working on it." James groaned and walked slowly to his room. Floating besides him, his Ghost turned to look at the Hunters room. It sensed heat radiating from the room that would not usually be present. Shaking it off he followed James to his room.

She couldn't get her armor off fast enough. Her room shouldn't be that hot, the heater in the corner wasn't on, and none of her remaining armor was sparking. As she pulled the chest plate off, she realized she had to amend that last thought. MOST of her remaining armor wasn't sparking. Still, after changing into lighter clothing, she was still overheating. She decided to just nap with none of her usual covers.

She collapsed to the bed heavily, barely even realizing her head had hit her pillow until her Ghost was hovering in her face, calling her name.

Did she mention she hates light?

She squinted at the Ghost, grabbing it and pushing it away from her face. "Leave me be." She groaned, turning over.

"I really think you should wake up now, Sam."

"You woke me up once already with no explanation, I'm not letting you do it again." She growled.

"Well, in that case, Cayde-6 is requesting your attendance in a debriefing."

Sam twisted around to glare at the Ghost, weighing her options. She could either go down, or ignore the summons and continue sleeping. And the sleeping sounded really tempting. "Fine." She sighed. "You win, Nightlight."

"I'm not a-"

She grabbed him again, but unintentionally as she toppled over with a pained yell. Leave it to her to step on her discarded armpiece she couldn't see in the darkness and twist her ankle. "I'm a Hunter! I AM the night!" She moaned into the thin carpet, then lifted her face to look at the Ghost still clutched in her fingers. "You okay?"

"I will be when you let go."

"Perfect." She sighed, releasing him and pushing herself up. "Get the lights." She changed quickly, tightening the piece around her sore right ankle, then proceeded out of her room. She looked both ways, then turned to her Ghost. "Is James going too?"

"Unknown. But if he is, he should be there by now."

"Ah. Get your butt down there. Got it." She started at a brisk pace, making her way down to the large room and the Vanguards as quick as she could. She was greeted by Ikora, Cayde, and Zevala huddled around one end of the table, with James pointing at things on what she could only guess was a map. Sam tried to look casual coming into the room late, but her ankle decided to flare up right then and make her stumble a bit. She still managed to get to the table, earning a sideways glance from Cayde-6.

"Spend a little extra time cleaning the rifles?"

"She-"

Sam snatched her Ghost from the air, whipping it behind her back before gently releasing her grip on it so it could float out of her hand. "I needed to switch out my broken armor. A few pieces got destroyed. What are we discussing?"

"Omnigul." A female voice behind them stated. Some of them turned to give Eris Morn a nod or a greeting. The elder Hunter slowly walked into the room, looking at each of them. Though her eyes were bandaged and bled darkness, she could see better than any Guardian in the tower. "Omnigul is a threat like none we have ever faced. She is the will of Crota. She exists for one reason only, to awaken her Master and offer him our light. She must be stopped at all costs."

"We need to get a strike team together immediately, hunt her down where she lays and destroy her. I can have a Fireteam ready within the day." Zevala slammed his fist on the table, determined to get this over as quickly as possible.

"Always rushing and never planning, Old Friend. What we need is a Warlock on the moon's surface to study her movements and see how many hive she commands." Ikora looked at the map on the table, already planning where she would send her Warlocks.

"That's the problem with you both. One wants to rush in and destroy everything, the other wants to study so much that the battle would be over before a warlock even arrived at the moon. We called Eris here, she is the only one who knows what the next step should be, listen to her and then we can send a Hunter to take care of it." Cayde announced as he used his knife to sharpen his nails.

"There is but one thing that needs to be done. Omnigul must be destroyed as soon as possible. Since these two Guardians were the ones who she chose to fight, it is only fitting that they be the ones to lead a team to finish her. As it stands right now, she will return to the moon within two days time. Rest, Guardians. What you will face in the next few days will test everything that you know and believe." With that, Eris turned and mournfully walked back to her sector of the tower.

"So, it is decided. Rest, Guardians, and in two days time we will have a plan for your victory against this monster." Zevala dismissed the two and went back to his work.

James and Sam walked away from the Hall of the Vanguards and toward the outdoor courtyard. Sam noticed that James's armor had many gashes in it and some of his flesh was exposed and burned. A strange glow emanated from the knife James kept on his chest. It was almost as if she could feel Arc energy flowing through it. She stopped him in his tracks and pulled the knife from its sheath. To their surprise his knife sparked and glowed white with Arc energy. James's Ghost appeared and scanned the knife. "That can't be right. That knife is glowing and sparking. That's more your department, Guardian." the Ghost turned to Sam and looked at her quizzingly.

"How the hell is it doing that?" James whispered as he took the knife from her and felt it's energy pulsing through him. He shook the knife and the glow faded. "We should … we should get going." James said in confusion as they walked to the living quarters. They could finally begin to rest and recover.

After her nap, she couldn't sleep well, so she stayed up for a long while cleaning and oiling her guns, especially the sniper rifle. She wasn't sure if James would want to join, but she couldn't sit idle for a day. Not without at least sitting idle behind a scope. The patrols could always use a good crack shot, and the Fallen could always use a separation of body and… well, there wasn't much left of the head when she was done.

"Shouldn't you be asleep, Guardian?" Her Ghost broke her from her thoughts.

"Shouldn't you be charging?" She replied.

"What is with your hostility towards me?"

"Why didn't you ever tell me why you woke me up? You said you would." She said calmly as she looked up from her delicate cleaning of the worn bolt on the right side of her rifle. The Ghost was silent. "Exactly." She whispered. "Go charge or something, I'm gonna sleep in a few."

The next morning brought Sam to James' door, her fist raised hesitantly. She steeled her nerves, then knocked softly, straightening up when the door opened. "Hi." She smiled a little too widely.

"Hi." The Titan chuckled. "Why are you all suited up? We have a day off."

"Yeah. I don't do the sit still thing." He raised his eyebrow at her. "Not without a rifle in my hands. I'm gonna go on patrol for a few hours on Earth. I have some spare sniper rounds I want to use."

"We're supposed to be resting."

"I am. I'm resting on my stomach." She retorted. "Come on, it's not like we're taking Omnigul or Crota. It's just a few low level Fallen."

"All right, all right. Let me get suited up."

"You won't regret it." She grinned, skipping down the hallway and towards the hangers. The trip down to Earth was short, and Sam was off of her ship before James, hopping on and off of her sparrow as she zig zagged across the scorched land in search of a good sniping spot. As soon as she had one, she hunkered down with a grin, stretching her cloak out nicely across her back and inching closer to the edge of the cliff until she had her spot pinned down. James watched in amusement as she settled the rather large sized rifle in front of her, then faded from view.

She began humming that lost tune again, twitching her feet in time to the song, despite being unseen.

"What are you humming?" He asked, looking over at where she should have been.

"I dunno. Something about falling."

"You're singing about the Fallen?"

"No." She laughed, pulling away from her scope and shimmering back into vision again. "Falling. Something falling. I don't know what it was."

The Titan grunted, looking out at the field again. "Why are we here if we're not killing Fallen?"

"We will be. They just haven't come yet." She sighed as she settled behind her scope again and out of sight. He pulled his knife out and started chipping away at the stone beside him, the sharp noise unnerving her. "Can you stop?" She growled, James shooting a look at her.

"No."

"Ugh. Go find something to punch. I can clearly see you want to punch something."

"There's nothing down there."

"Only to your eyes…" He could hear the smirk in her voice. "Cover your ears if you want to hear tomorrow." She growled as she pulled the trigger, a deafening thud making James twitch. As she slid the bolt back to chamber a second bullet, the clearing below them came alive with Fallen trying to figure out where that shot had come from.

"Sniper on the-" BOOM.

"Yup." She snickered. "Oh, duck. One of them saw you." She said as her gun went off again. "Okay, he can't see you anymore, but duck anyway."

"Hell no, I'm gonna go punch them."

"No Super!" She called after him. "This is just for fun, no Super!" He tossed some sort of sign over his shoulder, Sam sighing to herself. "He's gonna use his Super."

"I don't need my Super for this." James laughed, shouldering a Fallen out of the way and planting his blade in the neck of a second. As he went for a large grouping, a bullet tore through one of them, making them scatter. He sighed in frustration, grabbing the nearest grunt and mashing him head first into another Dreg.

With a growl of anticipation the Titan ran toward a group of Fallen. Pulling his pistol from its holster he aimed it at a Dreg. It's head exploded and splattered blood on its squad mate. It was a beautiful shot, made by the Hunter and not the Titan. "That's four, she needs to reload, Guardian. Now is your time!" His Ghost informed him excitedly. Cocking his pistol and firing three bullets at the closest Vandal, James got his first kill. The next Vandal had the misfortune of meeting his fist. It's jaw dislocated and unable to scream it received three more hard strikes of the Titans fist, each hit landing like a freight train. The last strike was a blade across its throat.

As she reloaded, Sam's Ghost scanned the battleground and focused on the Titan. "It's funny how you can frustrate him to no end. I can tell he's trying to beat you." She focused her vision down her scope again and took her breath. Aiming for the Captain that James was about to shoulder charge, she waited for him to take the Fallens shield off.

That's when it all became strange. For years their strategy was the same. James would shoulder charge the Captains or Knights, Sam would get the killing blow. It was a strategy that yielded the best results. Today was different. As the Titan charged at the Captain, the glow of momentum enveloped him. All he needed to do was dig his shoulder into the chest of the beast and all that momentum would be transferred and the fallen Captain would be completely devastated and disorient it. Today, the Titan dug his shoulder into the growling beast and bounced off of it like a child trying to attack an adult.

James fell to the ground and lost his breath, his eyes wide in his helmet as he tried to make sense of what just happened. He didn't have much time to think as the Fallen soldier grabbed him with all four of its arms and held James over its head. "Shit!" Exclaimed James. "Guardian! Use your Super ability!" responded his Ghost. Twisting his body, he released himself from the grip of the Captain. Raising his palm to the heavens, the Titan screamed in anger, summoning his Super. He felt the light inside him being focused to his hands. He was summoning his Hammer of Sol. A war hammer infused with the Solar power of the sun itself.

With a flash of light, the Titan stood and pointed his hammer at his enemy. Time and time again this would intimidate any enemy of the Guardians. They knew what would happen next. "Guard … Guardian … Your hand." James' Ghost had a worried tone in her voice. What was to be a mighty hammer was instead a flaming revolver. Cocking his head to the side, the Titan could not comprehend what was happening. His enemy attempted to attack, which caused James to jump back and activate his jetpack. Floating away, he pulled the trigger of his pistol and sent one slug screaming toward the Captain. The slug hit the animal in its chest and disintegrated it immediately. As quickly as it was summoned the pistol disappeared. He landed and looked at his hand in confusion. He turned to the ridge he knew where his Hunter was, hoping she had seen what had just happened.


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: CrowWingedWolf- Hey Guardians! In last weeks chapter, James accidentally discovered he had Sam's Golden Gun, a Super that is exclusive to Hunters. How did this happen?_

He turned to the ridge he knew where his Hunter was, hoping she had seen what had just happened.

And see it she had. "That was my Golden Gun. That was-" She stopped yelling at thin air, mashing the communication button on her helmet. "That was my Golden Gun!? Why do you have my Golden Gun? And why did you waste two shots?"

"Guardian, if he has your Golden Gun, what do you have?"

"What, you think-" BOOM. "I'm gonna be-" BOOM. "Using his Super?" She said between shots, not looking up from her rifle. Another bullet and she snickered as James glared up at her. As she pulled the trigger again, her gun clicked. "Crud." She breathed. "Move James, I'm coming down."

"What? You're out?"

"Yeah. Gonna Arc blade these bitches." She grinned. "Hey, Ghostie, wanna see a hero landing?"

"A what?"

"Nothing. Watch." She leapt off the cliff, summoning her blades. As the blue lightning crackled around her, she realized it was gathering at her lowest fist, but not elongating. She didn't have time to react as she hit the ground hard, her fist connecting with the earth as she rolled backwards from the impact, tangling in her cloak. A deafening explosion made her flail. "Crap, crap I can't-" a pair of hands lifted her up, helping her disentangle herself. "James? But the… fight… what?" She looked around at the decimated field, completely baffled.

"That was definitely a landing! Except the last part." The Ghost said excitedly, coming about to her face. She gently pushed it out of the way, staring at the field blankly, then rounded on James. "What did I do? What was that explosion? I was gonna use Arc blades, and… where are my blades?"

"I believe that was called a Fist of Havoc. And you need a shorter cloak." James smirked. "Come. We need to get out of the open. We need to figure this out." Summoning their Sparrows, the two Guardians got to the closest building to hunker down and secure a perimeter. After James made sure they wouldn't be disturbed, he came back to his partner and sat beside her. Taking his helmet off, he ran his fingers through his long hair, slicking it back.

"Okay, so what the hell happened back there? I went to summon my Hammer and I got your Golden. You tried to Blade Dance and you did my ground pound."

"Not to mention you getting manhandled by that Captain when you failed to shoulder charge." The Titans Ghost said with a humorous tone. James cocked his head to the side and flipped his Ghost to tell her off. Slumping in his chair he looked to Sam for answers she didn't have.

"How did we flip abilities? It's not like someone can just switch them, right?" She stared down at her hands, shaking her head. "I'm not even big enough to do half the stuff you can do. And you're definitely not delicate enough."

"No, this has to be some stupid mistake. Maybe the last time our Ghosts revived us something got mixed up. I'm sure this was a one time thing." James took her hands in his and took off her gauntlet. Her hands were showing signs of Arc burn from the Super she was not used to unleashing. He looked to his side arm and saw it warped and broken from the Golden slug that tore it's metal.

"So, what? Shoot each other dead? I don't like that idea. Dying hurts, I prefer not to do it on purpose." She stared down at her scorched fingers. "I want my quiet little Arc blades back." She pouted.

James reached into a tiny leather pack on his back. He pulled out a cigarette and lighter. Striking the lighter and pulling in his breath he began to smoke, the one vice that calmed him. "I don't like the idea of dying either. Let that happen naturally. When it happens, it happens. Right now, we need to get ourselves to a secure location and get our ships." James' Ghost projected a map on the wall. Red dots littered around their location between them and their ship.

Sam wrinkled her nose at him, then sighed. "I don't want to ground pound them again, my wrist hurts." She told James. "But um, in case we have to do that again, here." She pulled a revolver out, handing it to him. "This is what I use for Golden Gun. Its thicker, I think, and can stand up to those golden slugs." She shouldered her scout rifle, checking the magazine, then pulled out the rocket launcher and checked that too, laughing the whole time as she chided herself for even contemplating using a loud weapon.

"Thank you." He said as he holstered her weapon. "If I were you I'd go Solar or Void with your Super. That way you don't hurt your hands. If you have to use the Fists, remember to punch the ground solidly with the flat part of your fist." James jumped and punched the ground, showing her the form of how do not hurt herself.

"I'm not even sure I know how to use the other ones." She laughed, glancing at him as she took up position by the doorway with her scout rifle in hand. "Hey, if you have to use Arc Blade or Golden Gun, remember to keep moving. Arc likes movement, and you only have three shots and a short time to use them with Golden Gun."

She peered around the corner, tucking the rifle against her shoulder. "Here they come."

"Worse comes to worse, summon your Void Super. It's a shield. It will stop anything that comes your way. Use Solar as a last resort. If you need it. Just keep throwing, you'll know what I mean." James smirked and kicked the door open. Activating a grenade with his left hand, he threw it into a crowd of Fallen. He began to unload his auto rifle. Brass casings made metallic rhythmic music on the hard surface of the concrete below as he emptied its magazine. "Let's do it, Guardian!" James' Ghost nodded at Sam and flew to its master. Looking outside, all Sam could see were enemies and her friend fighting for their lives. The bullets hitting his armor did nothing but motivated him more.

If it wasn't for this strange affliction, she would have thrown herself Arc blades first into this fray. Instead, she pulled the trigger on her rifle. Close range wasn't her favorite, she preferred shooting from the shadows, but in a pinch she could go head to head. She emptied the clip into two Fallen, jamming her blade into a third. A roar behind her made her flinch, and out of instinct try to ram him with her shoulder and blade. Unlike the usual stun her shoulder would cause, she tossed the Vandal like a ragdoll. "Oh, cool!" She chirped, then had to duck a swing from another Vandal. "Not cool!" She danced around the Vandal, kicking him in the back of the leg and drawing her blade across its neck, then headbutted a Dreg, screeching in agony. "DAMMIT, I'M NOT A TITAN! How do you do this?!"

"How do I do this?! How do you do this?" James responded in annoyance as his fist landed perfectly in the throat of a Vandal. Usually, the creature would be disintegrated into oblivion. Now, he fell back and shot James back in anger at being hit. "You son of a .." James stabbed the Vandal in the chest and kept the blade in the corpse. He lifted it as a shield as a barrage of plasma fire came his way. The body served its purpose. He dropped it and shot the offenders with his rifle. Kneeling down, he grabbed his knife and it felt like lightning had struck. His body covered in Arc energy. "No! Not now!" He stumbled forward ungracefully and started to stab as many enemies as he could. He was way too slow, nothing like the speed of a Hunter. Only five fell to his blade before the energy ran out. He was face to face with a Servitor and not ready for an attack. A brush of air whisked past his helmet and his Hunters throwing knife caused the Servitor to explode.

"I don't need to be a Hunter to throw a knife, thank the Traveler." She laughed, then blanched when she realized that was her only knife. She shouldered her way through a Dreg, ripping her knife from the servitor and turning to find a Captain had joined the fray and gone for the closest Guardian. Namely, her. "Aah, aah! CRAP!" She fumbled for her revolver, but remembered she had given it to James. She held her blade out to try to deter him when the blade glowed a golden yellow, then became a hammer that pulled her to the ground and promptly blew up, sending everyone in the direct vicinity flying. She managed to turn her landing into a roll that slowed her enough to orient her again. The Captain was nowhere to be found.

"Keep throwing!" James yelled as he saw his friend land on her feet. There were few enemies left and he wanted to make an example of them. He took his heavy machine gun, aptly named "Thunderlord". The beasts were all slain in the glory of Arc and fire. The two Guardians came together exhausted, leaning against the side of a ruined aircraft. They laughed in amazement of what they had just done. "Guardians, I recommend that we vacate the area immediately." James' Ghost said. "You both did an amazing job. I'll inform Cayde and Zevala." Added Sam's Ghost. As quickly as they came, they rode away in their ships.

Sam walked slowly through the courtyard in a daze. She still held her knife, having unsheathed it once she had landed, and was staring at it in confusion. It blew her mind to think a knife could become a heavy glowing hammer explosive thing. "These things suck for stealth." She muttered, looking at James. "I want my Arc blades. How do we switch back?" James shrugged, Sam sighing. She ran her ungloved thumb over the handle of the knife, finding a new scratch and picking at it nervously. "I'm not very good in face to face combat. I mean, I can barely punch as it is." To illustrate her point, she jabbed at James shoulder, making him stumble. "Oops! Sorry, I didn't mean that!" She turned bright red. "Wait… don't you guys… punch each other to celebrate or something?" Her eyes grew wide with fear and concern. "Oh no, I'm gonna get decked."

"Relax, no one is going to punch you. You're a Hunter. You and I are the only two that know about our condition." He put his arm on her shoulder to draw her in. He gave her a friendly punch to her shoulder to signify his approval of their battle. He let her go and took his knife out. "I've trained with a lot of Hunters in my time. I knew you guys were nimble and quick, but feeling that power course through me was amazing. Too bad I'm too huge to be graceful." Throwing his knife in the air he threw a fast jab , caught the knife, and stabbed the air three times. "That's our quickness. Land a punch to disorient, finish with quick blows. You guys have the leg work."

"Yeah, you guys have the fists. But we are proud of that legwork of ours." She looked at her Ghost, who suddenly flew up high out of her reach.

"Oh no, you're not demonstrating your 'leg work' by using me as a hackey sack again."

"That was one time, and by accident." Sam frowned at the Ghost, who continued to stay out of reach. "And years ago." She grumbled. "So, who do we report this to? Because I'm pretty sure all three of our Vanguards are gonna freak out over this." She said, then stopped for a moment in a ray of sunlight that was slicing between buildings and giggled. "Wow, I never knew the sun could feel good." She stopped for a moment, a smile playing at the corner of her lip. "Wait. do we have to report this yet, or can we have a little fun first?"

Reaching for the security panel that opened the door to his quarters, James stopped and smirked at Sam's statement. He chuckled and nodded. "I think we can arrange that." James invited his friend into his room. It was the first time she had been in his private space. It was very minimalistic, both in furnishing and in decoration. The only thing that stood out was a painting of an odd symbol. A symbol she had seen time and time again. That tattoo on the Titans wrist. James slumped down on his sofa and looked at Sam. "Ghost, is there any activity that the Vanguards want Guardians to look into?" His Ghost phased into the room. "Ikora sent a message to all Guardians about strange Vex movements close to something called, The Vault of Glass. She needs Guardians to check it out." he blinked and floated closer to Sam. "Congratulations, you are the first person to enter his domain. He is usually such a solitary person."

Sam wrinkled her nose at the Ghost playfully, looking past it to James, then the painting on the wall, and back to James. "I'm up for taking on some Vex. And Venus landscape. Maybe a Sparrow race! We can spend the rest of today out hunting Vex and stuff, instead of with the Vanguard."

"You sound like you are avoiding them." James chuckled. Sam shrugged and tried to look disinterested.

"Well, not all of them." She laughed. "Just your vanguard. And Ikora. Cayde would be all for me doing this." She rolled onto the balls of her feet impatiently, grinning when James got up. She anxiously lead the way to the hangar, and then to Venus. The second she set foot on the alien soil, she knew she had made it. Thick green foliage grew on and around the ancient, linear ruins of the Vex. The vibrant landscape made her smirk. No matter what, this was always one of her favorite planets to visit. She liked to pretend that this is what Earth had once looked like, long before the Fallen had attacked. She sat down on a nearby rock and began going through her guns, checking each one carefully and making sure they all had full magazines before James had landed. Once he had, she shouldered her sniper rifle and grinned at him. "So, who's gonna take down more? You, or me?"

James put his large hand on her slender shoulder. "I think we should take some time to teach each other. What if we are permanently stuck like this? I need to teach you to be a Titan." Turning his head, James quickly grabbed his Hunters rifle and aimed. With one pull of the trigger he sent a rifle round down range and into the glowing gem of a Vex Hobgoblin. The impact sent the Vex screeching into a defensive huddle. Waiting for it to return to it's attack position James sent another round toward the Vex. As it was standing and it's Solar shield disappeared, it blew the Vex to pieces. Handing the rifle back, James stood back up and slapped her playfully on the back.

"I think he's winning." Sam's Ghost whispered in her ear.


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: CrowWingedWolf- Hey Guardians! Gods, it's been a while, hasn't it? Sorry about the sudden hiatus, life has been rather busy for the two of us. But things have slowed down, and we are back to writing on a normal basis, so let's get back into it! Last time we left off, James had the great idea to have Sam teach him how to use her Super, and visa versa! Enjoy!_

"Let's do this, I need my first lesson!" James got on his Sparrow and waited for her to take the lead.

His sparrow wasn't fast enough for her liking. It never was. She knew it was because she won hers by chance in a throwaway lottery, and the sparrow was of higher quality, but she still liked to throw jabs at him being a Titan over her shoulder. She wasn't very good at steering anyway. If it wasn't for the superb handling, she would be carving furrows in the walls of every turn she made. As they came up on another eddy of Vex ruins, Sam hopped off of her sparrow and scuttled up to the top of a chunk to scout the area. She pointed at a bundle of Vex, smirking at James. "I can see three over there, another two that way, and five over there. If I wanted to throw a hammer at them, what am I supposed to do?" She asked. "Because Arc Blades is easy. Summon blades, smack people with them, win. The lightning starts here," She indicated to the center of her chest where her heart would be. "And branches out to your hands and feet. At least, that's what it feels like to me."

James came behind her and pulled her close. Extending her right arm he put her in the position the hammers would be appearing. He then moved her body into a position to throw the object. "The fire is inside you. It wants to destroy anything it touches. Your hammers will find their target and explode. It's your job to use your strength to give them life. Remember that once one leaves your hand another will appear. Keep throwing till you're done." Releasing her and giving her a proud nod he pointed at the Vex. "Guardian, you need to get closer to them. I know you don't like it, but you won't hit them from this far." Her Ghost was close to her. It was nervous of what was to come.

"Calm down, twinkle." She laughed. "How bad can it be? Just summon like a Golden Gun and throw like a brick on a handle." She paused, absorbing what she just said. "Just in case, keep an eye on me?" She asked James, who simply laughed and nodded. She switched to her Auto Rifle and hopped down from her scouting spot, nodding to her partner. They began threading their way through the broken columns and architecture, splitting ways to flank the Vex. The muffled rapport of rifle fire told Sam he was extending his lead over her. Not to be outdone, she tossed a grenade at her three, the explosive springing up eight smaller children that homed in on the nearest Vex, Sam dropping the other two with a quick shot to the glowing red gem. As she came around the corner to confront the five in the center, she saw James had already felled two and was working on the Minotaur. His clip ran out, and he punched at the Minotaurs leg before rolling aside. Sam put a shot through one Goblins gem, then her blade through the other to drop them before unloading her clip into the Minotaur. "Hey tall dark and fugly!" She called, the hulking machine turning to her. She glanced at James, then back at the giant. She began backing up, fumbling with her next clip. As it raised it's gun, James ended it with a well placed shot, the mutilated machine dropping in front of her. She breathed a sigh of relief. "I don't know how you do this close range thing." She laughed, shaking her head.

"Well, you're a Hunter. You don't usually do close range." James replied.

"I know. I should hide on my rock again. I wanted to know what it feels like to be a Titan instead of just borrow your abilities." She shrugged. "Thanks for the save."

"That was a great start, Guardian." James Ghost came behind her and chirped. "You can do close range combat, you just need to broaden your view. You're so focused on viewing the battle through a scope. Up close you need to plan your attack, your execution, and escape all at once. If all else fails, punch until whatever is in the way is no longer in the way." The Ghost separated as it spoke to her. Scanning the battlefield. Ahead Sam saw James reloading his shotgun and counting the enemies ahead.

She slowly began reloading her rifle, starting to rethink this 'be a Titan' idea. She wasn't exactly built to be a Titan. She was small. Heck, she had sniper rifles taller than her. It was easy for her to be short. Just then, an idea struck her. She hurried up to walk next to James, smirking at him. Of course, he couldn't see her, but she still smirked. "I think I have an idea. Mind keeping an eye on me one more time? Last one, I promise."

Turning quickly towards her as he was surprised by her sudden proximity to him, James smiled and nodded. "Go for it, I'll borrow your rifle." He watched his Hunter friend jump down the edge of the embankment and slide to the bottom. Taking the magazine out of the rifle to double check that it was full, he tapped the magazine on his helmet as he would do with his other armaments. James laid prone on the rock and looked down his scope. Though he was proficient with all manner of weaponry, it had been a long time since he used a sniper rifle.

"You might not want to mess with her scope, she will not be pleased." Sam's Ghost hovered by his head and kept his eye on James.

"He knows what he's doing, he's used a rifle before. Why don't you go check on your Guardian." James's Ghost got in front of her fellow Ghost.

"Ladies, you're both pretty, now can you give me some silence, I need to cover Sam." Putting his finger on the trigger, James followed her as she snuck to her target.

It wasn't a large group, thankfully. She glanced up at James, giving him a thumbs up, then checking her equipment one more time. Auto rifle, check. Shotgun, yuck, but check. Ghost…? Whatever, she didn't need him. Her. Sounds like a him. She grit her teeth and turned around the corner, opening fire on the first Vex she saw, then turning her attention to the second one. She hip checked it where it's waist should have been, happy to see it stumble. That was all she needed to know, and couldn't help the smirk that took her face this time. They were grouped pretty close together. Perfect. She hunched over, launching herself into a shoulder charge aimed at the front Vex's hip. It crumpled over her, careening into a second and knocking a third off balance as she managed to twist away and leave a grenade attached to the first Vex's thigh. It blew the three of them up, spraying both herself and the just arriving Minotaur with shredded bits of metal. A bullet tore through the air just a breath from the Minotaurs glowing gem eye, Sam realizing James was trying to rescue her. She dodged the spray of bullets from the hulking machine, switching to her shotgun and laying two down in quick succession, keeping it aimed at the Minotaurs knee joint. The shotgun kicked hard at Sam's shoulder, obliterating the Minotaurs knee and sending him keeling over sideways. By the time it hit the ground, it's gyroscopes working feverishly to adjust to, and compensate for the sudden reorientation, her shotgun was already tearing what should have been his head apart. She checked the area around her, hopping up on a pillar to properly scout the area, then shot James a thumbs up.

"Nice shot Guardian, it seems you still have your aim." his Ghost scraping on the ground and putting another notch in the dirt to signal how many Vex he had destroyed. Getting on his knee and putting the weapon down, he surveyed the area. It was all clear. They had rid this area is the horrid machines.

Suddenly the area grew dark and a loud screech could be heard in his helmet. He grabbed his helmet and lowered his radio. Looking towards Sam he saw her also touching her helmet. Echoing words came over the comms. James narrowed his eyes trying to understand the message. "That's so weird. I think I'm hearing .. Russian?" James Ghost spun quickly as it heard him say that.

"That's impossible, you can't be hearing that. There's only one Entity who can speak that and … He's long gone." Scanning his helmet, the little Ghost began to back up as if it was scared. James stood up in shock. Having never seen his Ghost acting like this. "That's impossible. He can't be active, it's just a legend… He couldn't have survived."

The sky shone with a bright flash of light as a fireball began to enter the atmosphere. "A Warsat! It's falling to Earth!" His Ghost turned toward Sam nervously. James turned and looked at the satellite, and then at his partner.

"Fuck!" He exclaimed as he summoned his sparrow and jet towards his partner. It was the fastest he'd ever driven his sparrow, but this was an emergency. The sky was screaming as the object cut through the air towards them. "Sam! Get on NOW!" He slowed a bit but kept moving towards her quickly. The air was filled with noise, the sky bright with fire, there was no way he could have heard or seen the sniper. He screamed in anger suddenly as a shot from a Vex hobgoblin tore through his armor and into his ribs. He looked down to see the blood slowly leaving his wound. He didn't care, he had to get to her. He neared and stretched out his hand to get her on.

She leapt from the pillar, landing on her feet and jumping at his back. She wrapped her arms around his torso and swung her legs up onto the back of the sparrow, missing James pained grunt. "Go, go!" She yelled, James hitting the throttle and propelling them out of harm's way. As they threaded through the landscape, Sam noticed the turns were getting sloppier. She had to reach around him and yank the handle to the right when they veered straight towards a sheer stone wall, causing the Sparrow to flip and send them both tumbling. She somersaulted to her feet, pulling out her auto rifle and looking around for any immediate danger. "James, what was that? You falling asleep on me?" She quipped, glancing over at him. He was still lying where he had landed on his back, his Ghost and Sam's floating over him quietly. She moved closer, dropping her rifle when she saw the glistening red. "Shit, shit, shit, James? Hey, James, can you hear me?" She asked loudly as she crouched over him and placed her hand by the side of his head. He barely managed to swat at her, turning his head towards her. The two Ghosts looked at each other briefly and flickered, then her Ghost turned to her.


End file.
